In an interview with ABC Net, Luke Mead, founder of Zero Gamble App, Regional Coordinator at Being Mentors, and part of this year’s ABC Trailblazers Programme, spoke about how gambling and gambling ads affect young Australians.
Exposed for the first time to gambling as early as Year 11, Luke watched his classmates wager on sports via their mobile phones while attending classes. They all used various means to access the sportsbooks – some resorting to fake identification, and others logging in through relatives’ accounts.
The young man shared that watching some of his mates gamble away thousands of dollars was very challenging and made him ponder on the impact that gambling had on young Australians. Advertisements through social media platforms, as well as mobile betting apps, made gambling all the more appealing and accessible to the youth. While his parents’ generation had to go to a brick-and-mortar casino to gamble, his own had “a casino in their pocket”.
As per the findings of the most recent study conducted by the Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC), 18 to 34-year-olds are at the highest risk of developing gambling-related problems.
The data published in the study suggests that 55% of women aged 18-35 can be considered at-risk gamblers, with the percentage decreasing to 40% in the 35-54 age group, and to 24% of women aged over 55. As far as men are concerned, the figures stand at 71% for the first age group, 58% for the second, and 33% for the third.
Luke Mead Invents the Zero Gamble App to Provide Help to Gambling Addicts
Luke Mead further shared he was acutely aware some action should be undertaken to lessen the exposure of the young generation to gambling and gambling-related advertisements. What made things even worse was the lack of sufficient gambling support channels and tools.
With young people refraining from reaching out for help through gambling hotlines, and even worse, being “too scared to ask for help”, he thought of “having something that is minimally invasive and that you can have in your phone”.
Thus, he created the Zero Gamble app, which although still in the testing phase, is functional, and provides tools, guidelines and programmes, designed to meet the needs of problem and at-risk gamblers.
What he created was a mobile counterpart of all the existing paper tools for gambling help: “I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just digitalising existing supports and making it easier to access”. He added that the mobile app was an all-important tool for people living in areas with limited gambling help resources.
Dr Hannah Pitt, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Deakin University, exploring the impact of gambling on children and young people, also spoke of an alarming trend. Being an advocate for a complete ban on advertising, she explained how easy it was for young children to recognise gambling brands and celebrities endorsing gambling ads.
The creator of the Zero Gamble app agreed that the government must take immediate measures to implement “better legislation around gambling advertising at the bare minimum and reducing that”.
As reported by CasinoGuardian, as far as gambling advertisements are concerned, Michelle Rowland, the Australian Communications Minister, has confirmed that the government would deliver “a comprehensive response in due time”.
- Author
Daniel Williams
